The Bell Curve Research Paper

A third piece of evidence that supports nurture as being a more important factor of intelligence in this debate is racial groups differing in their average intelligence score. Around WWII more IQ tests were being given due to soldiers in the United States applying to serve their country. African Americans scored lower (typical Black scores below 85% of Whites) on these tests containing vocabulary, reading, and mathematics. Test given to the soldiers around this time were extremely biased to Western-European culture. This shows that the black-white test gap is not related to nature entirely. When black and white children attend same schools the gap begins to shrink, proving that environment is a huge factor regarding intelligence. It shrinks when they have the same wealth and income. “When black or mixed-race children are raised in white rather than black homes, their preadolescent test scores rise dramatically.” (NewYorkTimes). There is too much evidence to prove the reasoning for

One of the first things a child is taught while growing up is the well-known cliché, practice makes perfect. This phrase has been the basis for trial and error situations time and time again, where if it doesn’t work the first time then keep trying. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell leaves the audience with a memorable observation, the 10,000 hour rule. The basis of the 10,000 hour rule is that an area of interest requires 10,000 hours of practice in order to become an expert. Although this may be true in some situations, how can someone practice something they are unable to do? Natural talent and ability are crucial characteristics in order to become an expert in any area. This phenomena highly lends itself to the observations made about intelligence and genetics. The main misunderstanding when considering whether this argument is fundamentally nature or nurture is the difference between intelligence and education. Many consider education to be exactly equal to intelligence, which is the basis for the believing that working hard will essentially result in intelligence. Intelligence is considered as “a very general mental capability that, among other things, involved the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience” (Colangelo19-39.) Qualities that make up the realm of intelligence are things that people are simply born with and cannot easily be taught and trained. One may be able to work twice as hard as the next person and equalize their achievements, but the essential difference at work is the way the mind process information and the difference between intelligence and education. Although some consider intelligence to be an environmentally based attribute, they fail to understand the true meaning of

Gladwell reveals that to excel in the world, one must be born with or introduced to the right tools. These tools may include being born into a high class home, when one is born, as well as being recognized early in school. When Lewis Terman, in 1921, conducted the Genetic Study of Genius observation, he only took into account the subjects I.Q. scores. It wasn’t until later, when he noticed the divergence of three different groups A, B, and C, did he realize that it wasn’t only about scores. The groups were separated by societal class, group A born from the high end of the scale while C was from the lower end. Group A, as well as most of B, did superb at the same time that group C fell out. Intelligence

His findings have concluded that environmental factors explains 58 percent of IQ variations around the world. If IQ tests were able to compare different backgrounds of different races, it would be more apparent. An American clinical psychologist Terrie Moffitt, said that negative environments (low social status or ineffective parenting) could affect a child 's intelligence even more (Parker/Morton 1). There is a way to make a child smarter and that starts from an upbringing environment that is positive (Hurley). While bringing in the genetics of an individual based on their skin color, there are also different environmental factors that can contribute to the correlation between race and intelligence.

Intelligence is most important in today's society. Some individuals have high intelligence, some have low intelligence. An appropriate environment plays an important role in the development of a child’s intelligence. Stephen Jay Gould exchanged many views on intelligence in his book The Mismeasure of Man

There is also scientific opinion that intelligence is attributed to DNA passed on from your parents. ( Plomin , Spinath 2004)

Dweck’s finding surprised me. What surprised me is that alternatively I myself have always learned or heard that intelligence or IQ is something we're born with with some environmental factors having some effect on it. Moreover, it’s good to know that some one else has a different viewpoint on that it is very possible for one's abilities to go beyond. Indeed, the whole concept of hard work or effort is something very important to point out. when it comes down to intelligence because one can have a high IQ, but without any hard work or effort one can't really accomplish anything. Above all, Intelligence can be a factor of many things but one thing for sure is that hard work or effort is a necessary quality to add.

The brain is constantly changing throughout one’s life. This undoubtedly has a tremendous effect on their cognition and learning, at every stage of their development, Dweck on others would show (Dweck, 2006). Whether one “...sees their intelligence as something that is fixed or something that can grow and change—has profound effects on their motivation, learning, and school achievement (Dweck, 2006).”

There are many methods people use to grow their mind. Some people keep practicing what they want to learn, some push themselves to limits and use self-control, and many people believe that the key to success is failure. However, there are some people who think otherwise. According to the article “You can grow your intelligence”, the author states that many people often believe this myth that when people are born, they’re brought into this world with either a “smart” IQ or a “dumb” one. But, scientist have proven that people can grow their intelligence just by practicing the things they want to learn.

Biology, or heritability, seems to affect intelligence by about 75 percent. While experience, learning, and environment seems to amount to about 25 percent of intelligence. Though in adulthood heritability can account for more than 80 percent of intelligence. Unfortunately, it is hard to fully determine the full effect of heritability because it is a statistic of a group as a whole and not an individual. If a person had more time dedicated to their experience, learning, and an environment of greater quality the outcome would be significantly different. An Example of this how students in Japan are subject to school for nine to 12 hours a day six days a week, and the budget for their education system is immensely larger than that of the

Sternberg also takes issue with the contention that Intelligence is learned. In Sternberg’s excellent analysis of intelligence he found that heritability is a ‘troubled concept’ He explained that it does not tell us the amount of intelligence that

At such an early age, young children have the mental capabilities to be able to understand and process their early learning nurturing environment, altering their biological development. Kenneth mentions this as stated, “researchers have posited the notion that children are born with the capability to alter their biological development by reading the type of nurturant environment that they experience in early life.” This alteration of their biological environment means that children are able to greater understand their surroundings without being informed on certain aspects by their parents or educators, thus learning these small factors at a younger age, ultimately building their understanding independently. A particular question asked by Stephen and others in their article has been raised, “Given that genetic and environmental influences are found throughout the life span, an important issue is how genetic and environmental factors influence the stability and instability of cognitive development.” As we all grow up and mature genetic and environmental influences, such as education, heredity, parenting, culture and genes, can affect how

While this assumption is accepted by a majority of geneticists and behavioral scientists, there is great disagreement on the degree of influence each contributes. Arguments for environmental influences are compelling; at the same time there is growing evidence that genetic influence on intelligence is significant and substantial (Eyesenck, 1998; Mackintosh, 1998; Plomin, 1994; Steen, 1996). The purpose of this paper is to explore the question: "How is intelligence influenced by heredity and environment?"

The evidence for genetic contribution to individual intelligence are (1) Family studies indicate that intelligence occurs in families, (2) Twin studies illustrate a greater link within identical twins in IQ than between non-identical, or fraternal , twins. This is true even when identical twins raised apart are contrasted with fraternal twins reared together. (3) Adoption studies suggest that adopted children are slightly comparable to their biological parents in intelligence.

I am increasing drawn to the ideas of Vygotsky (Fisher, 2005: 210; Minton, 2012: 15-17) who in the 1960s, along with others, challenged the ‘notion of inborn intelligence’ prevalent up to the 1950s, leading to the still evolving idea that we all can grow in intelligence by improving our cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, ’learning how to learn’ (Fisher, 2005: 210). As a result of scientists describing how our